Fate
by kayladreams
Summary: Cowritten with Rin-Tsukihime13! Fate was uncontrollable. Sometimes it was on your side, sometimes it wasn't. One thing I knew though, was that everything had to work out in the end... right? Neji/OC, Gaara/OC & other pairings! AU.
1. A Dull Beginning

**Fate**

**Authors Note:** This is a co-written by me & Rin-Tsukihime13; you should go visit her because she's amazing and has more amazing naruto stories for you to enjoy. For some reason, she wants me to post this story up, even though I think she deserves to post it. This storys pretty AU, and random. Just hope you enjoy it! Also, we'll try to update as soon as we can.

**Disclaimer:** Unfortunately, I don`t own Naruto or any of the charaters. All I own is this story, and the OCs.

--O.O—

_Neba's P.O.V_

"What's the point of putting up Valentines Day posters, already?" Amai grumbled, glaring at the poster, which advertised the annual Valentines Day dance. "It's still January!"

"The last day of January, though." Izumi noted, brightly.

I could hear Amai grumble something under her breath, as she ripped down the poster and crumpled it up. A few senior girls walked by and glared at us for it, immediately intimidating Izumi.

"Good job, Amai." I heard Izumi speak, stiffly and sarcastically. "First thing in the morning, and you already managed to piss three people off."

"I do feel quite accomplished now." Amai stated, as we headed inside.

We had actually arrived pretty early at school today, which was a surprise. Amai and I usually had to wait for Izumi to eat her hour-long breakfast each morning, which consisted of a bagel, two eggs, three pancakes soaked in syrup, two bowls of cereal and a fruit salad. Then, she made her even bigger lunch. Surprisingly, Izumi was probably the thinnest person I ever met, too. She had long blonde hair, and big, dark brown eyes, usually full of nothing but hunger.

"Neba, are you okay? You've been quiet this entire time," Amai asked. My head snapped up.

"I'm okay," I told her. She nodded in approval, as she probably already knew what was going on with me.

--O.O—

_Amai's P.O.V_

Let me lay it to you straight. I hate Valentines Day. Everything about it, well, except maybe the chocolate. When the senior girls glared at me, I wanted to smile. Alas, I did not, as I had already pissed them off enough. Thank god Izumi had finished her breakfast early, sometimes it feels like she'll never stop eating. I love that about her. It's so funny.

Don't get me wrong. I don't like women. I'm not into that kind of thing. It's called platonic love. Go look it up in a dictionary.

Neba was unusually quiet that morning. Maybe it was seeing that Valentines Day poster. Maybe it was that her mind would always wander to a certain boy, a certain LONG-HAIRED boy.

We were hanging around in the cafe', since we were early, as not per usual. Izumi's pants were too short, showing her pulled up socks. Neba and I would always point it out and she would insist that her father was the one who did the hemming, which made it all the funnier.

Neba had become more cheerful, as she had bought her usual cookie from the cafe'. She and Izumi were twittering on about how Kiba Inuzuka had asked Hinata Hyuuga out the day before. It wasn't particularly interesting to me, as was the case with most things. Well, I guess I did have SOME things that I liked. I noticed Kiba and Hinata walking into the cafe' with that LONG-HAIRED boy trailing behind them. I leaned down over to Neba.

"Your boy has arrived," I muttered. Her face went red. I saw her smirk out of the corner of my eye and she went to whisper in my ear.

"Right behind my boy is your boy," Neba murmured. I tilted away from her to see who was behind that LONG-HAIRED boy. That red hair, those turquoise eyes, I stared at his features for a while, until he caught me. I felt all the blood rush up into my cheeks, and I turned my head away quickly. Neba get up from her seat and runs over to that LONG-HAIRED boy.

"Neji, it's nice to see you again," she said loudly.

"I saw you only yesterday, Neba," he groaned. I chuckled to myself. Neba was so in love with him, that nothing could make her fall out of love with him. Izumi turned to me and sighed.

"I don't understand her," Izumi grumbled.

"Don't worry Izumi," I laughed, "It'll be your turn eventually."

"Boys are gross though," Izumi protested.

"If that's what you want to think, little Izumi," I replied. Izumi frowned.

"Just because you're asexual for the moment," I muttered.

"AMAI," Izumi shouted.

"I'm just kidding," I grinned.

"No you weren't," someone said from behind us. Izumi jumped a foot into the air and I shuddered. I shifted slowly, prepared for the worst possible result. There was the pink haired horror.  
Sakura Haruno, well, she was a horror to me and Neba, I think. Izumi didn't seem to mind her though. Which seemed weird, since Izumi had a small crush on Sakura's blond boyfriend, Naruto Uzumaki a long time ago. Then again, Izumi has never really expressed any interest in love. It was like she was just waiting for the first person to come along and tell her that they had a crush on her!

"Hey Sakura," Izumi smiled.

"Hello," I muttered, turning to watch some more NebaNeji. That's what I called it when Neba was all over Neji, which happened to be almost the entire time. It was fortunate for Neba and not so fortunate for Neji that they had all the same classes.

"Oi, Amai," another voice rang into my ears. I looked over my shoulder and there was Naruto, hand already entwined with Sakura's.

"Hey Naruto," I said.

"Is Neba already over with Neji?" he asked, as Sakura and Izumi chatter about some biology nonsense. I nodded and motioned at them over my shoulder. Naruto stood on his toes to look past me. He started chuckling at the sight of them. Naruto's eyes widened for a second and then he grinned. I raised an eyebrow. Suddenly, there's a tapping on my shoulder. I turned my neck straight. There's Ino, her long flaxen hair bouncing around her face.

"Morning Ino," I said.

"Good morning," she smiled, "Neba's already preying on Neji?" I nodded and glanced around the room. Neba and Neji were in the corner, Neji buying something out of the vending machine while Neba's mouth is moving about a thousand metres a minute. My eyes darted around the cafe' a couple more times and I realize that he's gone. Oh well, it's not like, I like him a lot, or anything. I'm just concerned! Yes, I'm concerned about him! The bell rang, and I slung my knapsack over my shoulder and slid off of the table I was sitting on.

"Come on Izumi, you, Neba and I have English now," I said. Izumi said her good byes to Naruto, Ino and Sakura, and I yelled across the cafe' to Neba, who dragged Neji with her, as we all have English in the same class.

Neba waltzed into the classroom, arm interlocked with Neji's. There weren't many stares, as most of our classmates had gotten used to it. Izumi followed them and I followed her. I scanned the room again, just to be sure. He was there, in his usual seat, bobbing his head to the music being played in his ears. Our English teacher had given us assigned seating, and all the seats were arranged in pairs. My seat was next to his.

Was this a good thing, or a bad thing? I shook my head and dropped my books on my desk, not receiving a single flinch from him. In reality, he glared at me from the corner of his clearly sleep-deprived eye. Neba and Neji had their seats right up at the front. Neji always told Neba that they were not a couple, but that did not stop Neba. She would do anything for him.

"Morning," I mumbled, sitting down in my chair. I earned a grunt from him. I wanted to scream, 'ARGHHHH!', right out loud and pull the ear-bud out of his ear and poke and prod him until he got so annoyed that he killed me! He probably would kill me if I actually did that too. Perhaps I could talk him into talking. Maybe the reason he never spoke was because his voice was high-pitched and he was embarrassed about it! That would be the day…

"Are you not a morning person Gaara?" I asked him. He grunted again, irking me more. Gaara was probably the only person in our school who could piss people off better than me, which in turn, pissed me off! How ironic.

"So, this weather lately," I drawled, trying to get him into a conversation. I started taking down some notes about sabotaging the Valetines Day dance.

"Is conversation really necessary?" grunted Gaara. I flinched and turned to gape at him. Gaara, who everyone classified as the school weirdo and sometimes even his siblings didn't want anything to do with him, was actually talking! Today was the end of the world, I was sure of it. I couldn't speak. His voice, it was low, he sounded like a grown man, or maybe two.

"I think it is," I muttered, "because-"

"Well I don't want to talk to you," he said. "I don't like talking and I don't like you."

Wow, the guy knows where to hit where it hurts. That wasn't going to make me give up though.

"Well, that's good, because I don't like you either," I spat back at him.

"Why are you still talking to me then?" asked Gaara.

"Because you irk me," I blurted.

"You irk me too, by talking to me. Leave me alone or I'll kill you," he retorted.

"That's kind of hard since we sit right next to each other and there's a thing called the police," I mumbled. Gaara simply grunted, again. I was groaning profusely inside my mind, while trying to shake the thoughts of ever having been concerned about Gaara. They were holding fast though, screaming and shouting to continue to talk to him, and get him out of his shell. I wanted to get up out of my seat and shake Gaara as hard as I could. Alas, I did not. The teacher walked in and class commenced. The teacher was, something, as unusual didn't even begin to describe him. In fact, I don't think there even is a word that can describe him!

"Today class," he said, before coughing a couple times, "we are going to start another project." I heard Neba groan among many other groans.

"You will work in partners, and so I don't have to think of pairs or have you guys choose your partners, you all will work with the person who is sitting beside you," the teacher coughed. My eyes widened, and I glanced at Gaara out of the corner of my eye. He seemed a little pissed, maybe as pissed as I was. I could tell from the cheering coming from the front of the room, that Neba was ecstatic.

"For your project, well, you can do anything, as long as it relates to the topics we've been covering," the teacher explained. I sighed, as giving us free reign wasn't the best idea for a teacher. I turned to Gaara.

"Now we don't have a choice but to talk to each other," I said, smiling as fake as I could. Gaara furrowed his brow.

"As much as I hate talking to you, I have no choice," he muttered. Once again, I felt my self control being tested as I restrained from strangling him on the spot.

"Do you like pissing people off?" I blurted. I clapped my hands over my mouth. I said it. I said exactly what I was thinking. Oh god, Gaara was going to kill me! Gaara simply looked at me, as if he was thinking about answering me. Oh god, oh god, oh god, I was sorry that I ripped down that poster this morning. I was sorry that I ever thought about pissing other people off. I was sorry that I would die without even knowing what true love is! Gaara pulled out a piece of paper and started writing things down. He was engrossed on the piece of paper.

"Aren't you going to like, rip my head off or something?" I asked in a whisper. Gaara looked up from the paper at me. His eyes were piercing into my mind. I could practically feel him nosing around my brain. If I could describe that feeling, I would, but it was beyond words. Gaara slid the paper over and tossed the pen he was writing with to me too. I caught the pen, and to my consternation, it was warm.

"Ideas," he commanded.

"Your pen," I said stupidly, "it's warm."

"Despite popular belief, I am a warm-blooded mammal, like you," Gaara said quickly. I picked up the pen and started writing. I kept my head down, as I knew my face was beet red. I added a few things to our list of ideas for a project. It was very frustrating, picking a topic, as Gaara wanted to do something that did not grab anyone's attention and I wanted to do a reading of sorts.

"We are never going to agree on anything," I muttered. I got up out of my seat and Gaara glared at me.

"I'm just going to talk to Neba for a second," I said while walking away. I heard Gaara mumble something under his breath, but I ignored it. Neba was chirping Neji about doing something, fluffly? That was the word I heard when I was right behind them. I stopped for a second. Was interrupting Neba and Neji really worth it? I was about to find out.

"Neji, we have to do something that Izumi will be jealous of," Neba whined.

"Neba, what's the point of doing something like that?" Neji asked.

"'Cause Izumi's partner is Sakura, and Sakura just annoys us to our very core?" I interrupted.

"That's exactly why," Neba exclaimed. She smacked her palm on her desk, to emphasize her point. I nodded and trudged off, since Neba was getting on with her argument. I went back to my desk and sat down. Gaara glared at me again, and I simply smiled at him.

"Did you come up with an idea yet?" I asked him.

"No," he replied, slamming the paper and pen down in front of me.

"Since you left me behind here, you are going to come up with our idea," he commanded.

"Yeah yeah," I muttered, picking up the pen.

--O.O—

_Neba's P.O.V_

"I can't think of any good topics!" I whined. I was annoyed just by the fact I couldn't even remember anything we had done in English this year. Maybe it was because I got so easily distracted by a certain someone, or my memory was dead. Who knows? "Neji, think of something good!"

"If you're so interested in beating Sakura and Izumi's idea, why not just go ask what they're doing?" He asked, annoyed still with being my partner. "Izumi is your friend, is she not?"

"B-But!" I couldn't actually lose out on my precious Neji time, could I? Sure, we had the same classes, but this was the only class that I actually sat beside him in. He did his best to avoid me in the others. "Ugh, fine!"

I got up, and started making my way over to the back where Izumi sat beside Sakura Haruno. I could see Sakura chatting away, and Izumi nodding her head enthusiastically. It was sickening to watch the two, and how Sakura just brainwashed her whenever she came around.

"Izumi!" I smiled happily, grabbing a chair and plopping myself down in front of the pair. "What topic are you doing?" I could sense Sakura giving me a death glare beside me, but I did my best to ignore it.

"Um," Izumi glanced back and forth at the two of us, quickly. "We're tied at two right now. We might do something related to Shakespeare or—"

I wasn't surprised that Sakura cut her off. "I really think we should do the Shakespeare idea, Izumi."

"Okay," Izumi nodded. "Shakespeare's good. We're doing Shakespeare, Neba."

"No kidding…" I sweat dropped, slightly.

"Neba, shouldn't you be getting to work on your project? You're going to be so behind!" I glared, as Sakura kept on lecturing about taking class time seriously or something.

"Sure, sure." I mumbled, getting up, now more than ever determined to beat their idea. As I trailed off back to my desk, I pumped my fist in the air bravely, as if a sudden declaration of war. Then, the bell rang.

"Gah!" I shrieked. Neji was the first one out of his seat, and already heading towards the door as fast he could. "Eh… Neji, wait up! Or not. Okay, I'll meet you at your locker and we'll walk to Science together, okay? NEJI!"

"Neji seems rather pleased to be your partner." Amai chuckled lightly.

"He's just being stubborn." I sighed. "He'll realize how lucky he is to be my partner and to be in all my classes, eventually."

I grabbed my books, and noticed with the corner of my eye, the flaming red hair go through the doorway. "How's your favourite red head doing?"

Amai growled a bit, while blushing as we headed out. "I don't like him. He's being annoying and—"

"Sure, sure." I laughed. "You do like him!"

"No I don't." She stated, calmly.

"Yes you do!" I smirked.

"Ugh, where's Izumi?"

I frowned. "Don't change the subject, but with Sakura probably…"

We walked a rather quick pace, and stopped at my locker as I fiddled with the lock. "I better go find her." Amai looked around at the passing faces, rather annoyed. This was one of the only classes I didn't have with Amai or Izumi. I had science, they had math. "See you at lunch."

I waved a bit, and grabbed my books quickly. If I ran quick enough, I could still catch up to Neji.


	2. Confusion

**Luna`s Author Note: **Wooooo for chapter 2! Sorry it`s a bit sloppy, well only where I wrote is, but hope you guys enjoy anyway. And we do not own naruto, obviously. Okay?

**Rin`s Author Note: **'.' Luna, I like your writing, geez. Anyways, I hope you all like it so far, as we're just doing our own little thing with this. We are introducing a new character I believe, and please bear with us. J Please review -.-;;  
Kanky and Gaara are fraternal twins, just for the time being, mmkay? Where hath Temari gone? Who knows :P

--O.O—

_Neba's P.O.V_

Despite how fast I ran, I couldn't find Neji anywhere. He wasn't at his locker, or in the cafeteria, or in the hallway. I pouted for a bit, until realizing I still had to walk all the way up to the dreaded third floor alone. _Perfect…_

"Neba!" I heard a familiar, bored voice call my name. On instinct, I snapped my neck around quickly to see who called me. My face instantly sank when I noticed who called, it was a bit mean but I was hoping for someone else.

"Oh, hi Shika!" I tried to sound a little enthusiastic.

He gave me an annoyed look, and corrected me. "Shika_maru_."

"It's so much easier to just say Shika though! I thought you knew all about laziness." I said, rolling my eyes a bit, as I started to walk alongside with him.

"I at least always say your full name. I'm not that lazy." He retorted.

"True, but my names four letters long. Yours is at least ten." I added, just as sharply.

"It's nine letters, actually." He smirked.

"Close enough." I said, smiling a tiny bit as well.

"Did you do the biology worksheet?" He asked, changing the subject into something more formal.

I shrugged. I didn't enjoy science very much, and just about everyone knew that. I did like Biology though. "I did most of it. You?"

He shook his head lightly, and I knew now how stupid that had been to ask, he was the laziest kid I knew after all, why would he do his homework? Besides, school time was more like naptime to him.

We walked up the two flights of stairs, making our way to where the grade ten science lab was, in an isolated corner area, near one of the teacher's lounges.

Of course, there was Neji, in his first row seat, talking to Bushy Brows a.k.a Rock Lee. I sat about two seats behind Neji, beside Ino, so I usually spent the period looking at the back of his head, and even then did the class still go by awfully slow.

"Neji!" I yelled, as I walked into the classroom, the loudness of my voice startling a few students, and making both Bushy Brows and Neji jump as well. "I told you to wait for me! Do you know how lonely it was having to walk all the way up here by myself?"

"Troublesome…" I heard Shikamaru mutter, while he took his usual seat beside Choji Akimichi, who was munching away on some chips, despite one of the class rules was no eating.

"Humph…" He grunted a bit.

"Aren't you going to say something?" I asked, sweat dropping a bit. The class wasn't paying too much attention, used to it all by now. Neji was still practically ignoring me, how wonderful…

"Why don't you go sit down? Class is about to start." He said, in a know-it-all voice.

My face flushed as I stood there for about a second, pondering on what to say next. Of course, the bell rings. Whoever said saved by the bell was really wrong; the only time it ever rings is when I don't want it to.

I walked slowly, taking my usual seat next to Ino Yamanaka, who was eagerly chatting away to the little emo boy behind us, Sasuke Uchiha, who was also ignoring her, and giving her grunts as responses. When she saw me though, she stopped.

"Neba, how's the progress going?" She shifted her head, pointing it slightly at Neji, who was neatly gathering his notes together.

"I don't know, he barely talks… and when he does, it's nothing relevant." I sighed, grabbing a pen out as I started doodling a bit on a blank piece of paper.

"Maybe you should give him some space," Ino stated, brushing a hand through her long, blonde hair. "I mean, then he'll realize how much he misses you or something."

"You're giving me advice? Have you seen the way you act around Sasuke?" I was getting annoyed myself now. "How about, you can preach to me, when you actually manage to get Sasuke to stop grunting at you."

"I was just trying to help." She frowned, a bit hurt.

"I don't need help." I stated. It was true. I could handle myself. Who did Ino think she was anyways?

"Alright, can everyone pull out their biology sheets from last night? I want to go over it…" The teacher said, coming into class a few minutes late with a coffee in their hand. Ino's words wouldn't leave me alone, so to block them out, I decided to put my full attention into class today. Who knows, maybe I'll actually learn something.

--O.O—

_Amai's _P.O.V

Damn her, Neba. I had let her put me into a mood. I would not be having any fun in math, but actually, math was fun. Don't ask me why, it just was, to me at least. I would like to state that I do NOT like Gaara, never, not even in a million years. He was too, too, in fact, there isn't really one word to describe him, or it could be because of my lacking vocabulary. He was a million words rolled into one personality, or lack thereof.

"Amai, are we going to head off to Math or what?" Izumi poked my side. I flinched and then glared at my friend.

"I'll see you in Math, Izumi. I have something to take care of," I muttered, walking away from her quickly. I kept my head down as I headed over to my locker. Pasted right at my eye level was a smaller version of that Valentine's day dance. I ripped that hideous thing off my locker and threw it over my shoulder. I started to put in the combination on my lock when I was startled by an "Ow".

I turned on my heel, about to say sorry to the person who I accidentally hit with the paper ball. There she was, dyed platinum blonde hair trailing down to the floor, brown cat-like eyes, the terrible, Jin Nagasaki.

"Sorry," I said loudly, cocking my head to the side a bit. I smirked at her.

"There was no need to assault me," spat Jin.

"If you're so concerned about your precious hair, then call the fashion police and have me arrested," I retorted. Luckily, Shino Aburame showed up behind Jin, and placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned around angrily, but her frown was instantly replaced by a smile as she saw Shino. Jin hugged him tightly, and I could feel my soul slightly dying on the inside. How long had those two been going out? It seemed like forever. That's how soul-killing their lovey-dovey-ness was. I turned back to my locker and grabbed my textbook and calculator out of it. I shut my locker quietly and turned slowly, preparing myself for a sight.

To my surprise, they were not there. They must have headed to their next class, math. Oh god, I forgot that both Jin and Shino were in my math class. I scratched the nape of my neck, as a shiver had run through it mere moments before.

"Why does it have to be near Valentines Day?" I complained quietly.

"Don't complain too much Amai," someone said. I sighed and closed my eyes.

"Is that you Kankuro?" I asked. I heard a groan and I opened my eyes, smiling triumphantly. Kankuro was standing in front of me, smiling broadly.

"How did you know it was me?" he asked.

"Classified Information," I replied, putting my index finger in front of my mouth. Kankuro patted my head. I frowned at him.

"You know how much I hate that," I growled. With heights, I just came up to his shoulder.

"It's really fun though," Kankuro said. "You look like a little kid sometimes."

"I really hope you don't develop a Lolita complex than, Kankuro," I snapped. "Now c'mon, we have to go to math." I walked away from him, knowing that he would follow. Kankuro is a good friend like that, at least, that's what I think. It's hard to tell with Kankuro, as he was the fraternal twin of that red head. Kankuro has a head of bright brown hair and matching eyes to boot. Kankuro was born first. That's all I really know about his family. I clambered up the stairs, Kankuro following behind. Math was on the second floor. I stopped at the top of the first flight of stairs, and stood beside the door. I looked down at Kankuro, who was climbing the stairs very leisurely, his hand shoved inside his pockets.

"Hurry up Kankuro, the bell's going to ring in a minute or two," I ordered.

"Holy mackerel, Amai, you sound like Gaara with those commands," he chuckled. The embarrassment turned my face red, and I stomped on the ground.

"Just because I ask you to hurry up, that doesn't mean anything," I shouted, narrowing my eyes. "Your brother is so annoying, he pisses me off, and he doesn't say much-"

"You sound like you're describing all of the things you like about him," Kankuro commented.

"I do not like you brother," I protested, "He pisses me off!"

"And because you think that way, you still care about him," Kankuro smirked.

"Kankuro, if it weren't against the law, I would be strangling you right about now," I said. When Kankuro finally climbed up the last stair, I grabbed his arm, holding my books with one hand and quickly dragged him off to our math class. I kept pulling him along through the halls, and thank god they were mostly empty at that time.

"Slow down Amai," Kankuro blurted.

"Thanks to your slow butt, we're going to be late," I muttered. I continued down the hall until the math classroom door was in sight. I breathed a sigh of relief and let go of Kankuro's arm. I strode into the class, feeling confident that I wasn't late. Kankuro followed behind, hands now out of his pockets. Everyone was sitting in their seats, chatting happily. Suddenly, I felt Kankuro grab my arm and pull me towards him. I turned upon instinct, and Kankuro's lips came upon my forehead. I tried to pull my arm away, but Kankuro held onto it. His lips parted with my forehead and Kankuro then pulled me closer for a hug. I purposely dropped my books on his toes. He yelped, which made me giggle, and thankfully, he let go of my arm. I bent down quickly to pick up my books. I gathered them into my arms and scurried over to my desk, in front of Izumi's. Izumi was wide-eyed.

"Are you and Kankuro," Izumi drawled. I glared at Izumi, shaking my head slowly. My eyes darted around the room, and everyone seemed to be fixated on either Kankuro or me. I looked at Kankuro, who was moseying over to his desk beside his brother. Gaara just glanced at Kankuro, then went back to work on his worksheet. The bell rang, and math began. The teacher walked in, and I coughed lightly. The smell of smoke radiated from his clothing. It was a slight nostalgic smell, tobacco and a mix of herbs, burning.

Hold on a second. How it that a nostalgic smell?

Naruto, who had his desk next to mine, was gesturing for me to take a note. I took it from him, being careful not to let Asuma, our chain-smoking teacher, see. The note was a tiny one, with Naruto's scrawl on it.

_Are you and Kankuro going out or something? 'Cause I overheard Neba saying to you that you like Gaara. _

Holy Freak, now that Naruto knows, EVERYONE will know, that Neba thinks that I like Gaara, when actually, I don't. I seriously don't. I took my pencil and wrote a quick reply.

_**I'm not, and I don't like Gaara. Seriously.**_

I held the note out to Naruto, who took it back. He looked at it, then stared at me, for confirmation. I rolled my eyes and then Naruto was promptly hit in the head with a piece of chalk.

"Naruto, pay attention to the lesson, and not to the girl sitting beside you," Asuma said.

"Amai is my friend," Naruto explained, "and Sakura is my girlfriend."

"Just pay attention Naruto," I hissed. Naruto frowned a little and rested his chin on his palm. I was bored already, and decided to glance around the room to see what everyone else was doing.

Izumi was probably paying attention to Asuma, how boring. Sakura seemed to be paying attention as well, while looking over at Naruto occasionally, how annoying. Jin was playing with her hair and staring at the back of Shino's head, how gross. Shino and Hinata were paying attention, boring again. Kankuro was smirking and gave me a little wave when he caught me glancing at him, frigg' Kankuro, you embarrassed yourself and me in front of our entire math class! Finally, Gaara, who had his face in the textbook, was occasionally turning the page, hm, intriguing. I studied the red head for a fair bit until I heard my name being called to answer a question.

"X equals the square root of negative one?" I blurted. Jin started laughing, and then I saw Sakura giggling. Soon enough, everyone, except Gaara, was laughing or trying to stifle their yuk-yuks. I groaned and hid my face from the world, hitting the desk with my forehead. Asuma calmed everyone down and calmly told me that was not the correct answer.

"Someone. Kill. Me. Now," I murmured. I tried to remain as unnoticeable as possible for the rest of the class, doodling in my notebook. What a disaster this day was turning out to be. It was that damn Valentine's Day poster! I am definitely crashing the dance now, you'd better believe it.


	3. Spread Like The Flu

8

Luna's Author Note: Hey! Rins actually got me kind of addicted to writing it now. At first I was out of it, but its getting fun. So yay! And we do not own Naruto. At all. More like, Naruto owns us. Mmk? :)

Rin's Author Note: The Plot Thickensss. Who knows what we'll have in store for our characters? They just move on their own…Well, in my part at least. For the most part :3

--O.O—

_Neba's P.O.V_

The bell rang, catching me off guard like usual, this time for slightly different reasons. I was actually into doing my work, and had gotten through all of tonight's homework sheets, and had started reading ahead. This was quite an accomplishment for someone like me, whom only yesterday just doodled hearts all through class. I felt a little bit bad for getting angry at Ino, though. Sure, I had my reasons, but I guess she was just trying to help. I gathered my notes, shoving them into my binder, as most of the class scurried off rather quickly. Ino was moving fast, too, and I felt like I owed her an apology.

"Ino!" I called, watching her slow down and jerk her head back to look at me. "Let's walk together. I'm sorry for freaking out earlier." I gave her a rather genuine smile, and hoped for the best.

"Sure, it was no big deal anyways." She slowed down her walk, to match my own slow pace, as I fiddled with my binder a bit. "I would've acted the same."

"Right…" I doubted it, but maybe. We were pretty alike in some ways.

"Oh, Neba! I got a new magazine, I'll bring it to our table at lunch to look at it." She grinned a bit, obviously pleased with herself. "It has a bunch of romance quizzes. Don't you just love valentines day?" She sighed in a dreamy type way, staring up at something ahead as we made our way to the first floor where our lockers were, and where the main cafeteria was. I matched her gaze, and saw her starting at a huge Valentines Day dance poster. It was a lot pinker than the one Amai had ripped off earlier this morning, and had even more hearts. Whoever did this poster was a little too romantic for their own good.

"See you in a bit, Neba!" Ino waved, walking to the opposite direction, where her own locker was.

I waved back a bit, my eyes still fixated on the poster. It had a picture of a bunch of couples dancing, and smiling, and it looked entirely fake. One girl was holding a bouquet as a guy twirled her, and another couple were exchanging gifts while dancing. Sure, I didn't go to the dance last year, but this kind of stuff was too surreal to really happen.

"Neba!" A voice squeaked, breaking me out of my trance. "You'll never believe what happened in math!"

Izumi already had her lunch in her hand, and I guessed she had come to catch up with me before she went to the cafeteria. I raised a questioning eyebrow, almost sure of what to expect. "Um, you aced a math test?"

"No! It's not that good!" Her face dropped a bit, almost annoyed. "Asuma marks tests so slow. I swear, he must mark a sentence a day! Maybe even worse, I bet he marks a couple words a day, not even—"

"Izumi, get to the point please." I sighed, as we walked up to my locker, and I started fumbling with the lock. It always took forever to open.

"I think Amai and Kankuro are going out." She blurted out, almost embarrassed to say it.

I sighed. Izumi had so much to learn. "Just because she's friends with a guy, doesn't mean she likes him. It's okay to have boys for friends, Izumi. There not complete germs."

"That's not it!" She protested. "And I know that! I don't care who she's friends with, anyways. When they walked in, Kankuro kissed the top of her head, and then they were going to hug, too, but she dropped her books and kind of interrupted it."

"What?!" I was completely lost. Izumi talked too fast when she was excited, and this story just wouldn't process right in my mind. "Are you sure this happened? I mean, I don't think she likes Kankuro…"

Right on cue, Amai walked up to the two of us, pulling out a juice box from her lunch bag, looking the same as always.

"Hey," She said, taking a break to have a sip of her juice. "Hurry up, Neba, you're so slow."

I felt a bit bad, but I couldn't help but blurt out the question, either. "Why do I keep hearing about you and Kankuro?"

"Ugh," She seemed annoyed, as If she had explained it already far too many times, and just wanted to be done with it. "I don't know. It was really random, but there is absolutely nothing going on between us. Forget about it."

"Well, do you like him?" I questioned. One thing Amai wasn't good at, was giving detailed responses.

"No." She said, flatly. As I slammed my locker door shut, and our trio started walking towards the café.

"Maybe you should confront him…" I fiddled with my thumb a bit. "I mean, he obviously must like you, to act on such impulse and do such a careless act as well. Either that, or he's really cocky."

"It's nothing." She said, as we entered the caf', and walked further back all the way to the far left corner where our table was. "I don't really care about it, either. It's pissing me off how it's spreading so quickly, though."

"Alright," I sighed. She'd talk about it when she was ready, I guess. No use bugging her about it.

Our table was big, and had a rectangular shape with lots of space to be filled with people. It's been our table since our first day here, as minor niners. We had a big group, and I wouldn't necessarily say we were friends with everyone, but oh well. The table consisted of me, Amai, Izumi, Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Jin (who only sat here because of Shino; not us, and made it her job to make it clear how annoying and immature we all were, except for Shino, of course) and Sasuke, who sat at the end, with lots of space between, saying he didn't want to be disturbed, and he was only sitting here since it was available space or some weird excuse.

When we got there Choji was gobbling down the humongous lunch his mother makes him practically every day and Shikamaru was sitting there beside him; a bored expression on his face. Jin and Shino were discussing something, as she brushed her fake, blonde hair, instead of eating. She told us before she was on a diet, which was no food. I don't think I've ever seen the girl eat, actually. Sasuke was also at his spot, isolated at the end, eating a ham sandwich. Naruto, Sakura and Ino were also making their way up.

"Aren't you going to go tackle Neji or something?" Amai questioned, trying to lighten her own mood.

"I would, but I'm hungry." I lied, opening my lunch bag to reveal a fresh oil and vinegar salad, which I made earlier this morning. Truthfully, I was taking what Ino said to heart. I've been trying my best with Neji since the beginning of grade nine, maybe it was time for a break.

She looked a bit concerned, and I wondered exactly how out of character this was exactly for me. Luckily, I was saved by Naruto's loudness.

"Amai! Can you explain exactly what happened in math class earlier?" He yelled across the table. It was completely unnecessary to yell, we were only a few centimetres apart. This kid must be going deaf or something.

Sakura smirked, lightly. "Kankuro's kind of a weirdo, don't you think? I guess he's your type."

I could hear Jin giggling, while Shino kept a stern face. Shikamaru, Choji and Ino all looked completely lost, and I assumed they hadn't heard about it yet.

I glanced at Amai, and her face was completely flushed. I was sure she was going to flip out now.

--O.O--

_Amai's P.O.V _

It was spreading like the flu! Stupid Kankuro! There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to end up in jail for killing him. I glared at Naruto and smacked my palm against my forehead. Why me? I stood up, grabbing my lunch. I moved from my spot and went to sit beside Sasuke.

"This is my space," he said, glaring at me. I frowned.

"You can't be the only angsty kid here," I replied, sitting myself beside him. "Don't worry, I just want some peace and quiet too."

"Amai, come back over here, we want an explanation," Izumi whined. I continued to eat my lunch in complete silence. It was somewhat peaceful, until I heard whispers from Jin.

"Wow, she's already preying on another guy," Jin muttered, "how skanky."

"You can't say that about Amai," Neba said. "Just take a look at yourself, Jin."

"Psht," Jin smirked, "You're just jealous."

"Would all of you just shut up?" I blurted loudly. Jin went wide-eyed.

"No need to yell, Amai," Jin complained, "We're, like, right here."

"You and your mess of a wig can go die in a hole, Jin," I spat.

"There's no need to talk like that to her," Shino said, wrapping an arm around Jin's waist. She smirked, clearly thinking she had triumphed. I rolled my eyes.

"There no need for her to be a total bitch either, right?" I muttered, turning my eyes to the ground.

"Just stop it you guys," Sakura said, trying to play peacemaker.

"Screw this," I murmured, getting up from my temporary seat beside Sasuke. I just walked away. There was no need for me to be there any longer. I don't really care what they say behind my back, it's when they ask me questions about the things said behind my back. I ended up at my locker, fiddling with the lock. As soon as I unlocked the stupid mechanism, I opened my locker, only to have it shut by another person. They kept their hand on my locker, and I decided to look at the person to reveal their identity.

"Did you miss me?" Kankuro asked, grinning.

"Screw off Kankuro, you've already messed up my entire social life, with that stunt in math class," I hissed.

"What stunt?" he asked, playing innocent. I glared at him. Kankuro simply grinned and ruffled my hair. I smoothed it out.

"Kankuro, you're my friend," I said, "so explain to me why you did that." He mocked me by putting his index finger up to his mouth.

"Classified Information," he smiled.

"If you don't tell me, I'll punch your face in," I grumbled. Kankuro smirked, when went to ruffled my hair again, but I slapped his hand away.

"Kankuro, you will always be my friend, nothing more," I said, narrowing my eyes. Kankuro leaned back. I replaced the lock on my locker, which Kankuro was still holding shut, and I walked away.

"Amai," Kankuro said, snatching my arm. I turned, my fist primed. With my momentum, I punched Kankuro in the stomach. He buckled, and fell to his knees, coughing.

"Until you give me an explanation," I ordered, "I'm not going to talk to you." I ran back to the caf', hoping that my friends were still eating.

--O.O—

_Neba's P.O.V_

"Jin, why do you even sit here if you're going to act like that?" My voice was raising, and I could feel my cheeks turning red from anger. Shino shot me a strange look, but I ignored it. "Seriously, you have no right talking to Amai like that! You might be going out with Shino, but that doesn't mean we'll put up with you--"

"Neba, enough." Shino attempted to shush me, while I could see Jin cuddling up beside him, a small smile creeping onto her face.

"I'm not going to be quiet! Someone needs to put this girl in her place." I poked a finger at her, while glaring daggers in her direction.

"Hey!" A loud, obnoxious voice called, running up to our table. "Does anyone here have a dollar? I was gonna buy another burger but I'm sort of short…" I sighed, glancing upwards to stare at Kiba Inuzuka, who was shoving his hands through the pockets of his coat, looking for extra change. Behind him, Hinata Hyuuga, cousin of Neji, was fiddling with her thumbs and staring down at her feet.

"Get a job, Kiba! Stop mooching us for our money." Naruto complained, who told us a couple days earlier was broke due to lending money out so much, mostly to Kiba.

"I'll pay you back, don't worry. I'm still working on it, Naruto…" He rambled, and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Jin and Shino were getting up to leave, Shino patting her back, as If to tell her everything was fine. Everything was not fine, and it wouldn't be fine until these two broke up, so then I could really have my say on what I thought about her. That probably wouldn't happen though, they've almost been together for two years, and were still going strong.

"Amai! Are you okay?" I heard Izumi's voice say, as she started putting her lunch away.

"Fine." She grumbled, as she took a seat down beside me, shooting a glance up towards Jin and Shino who were walking out of the cafeteria now.

"What a bitch, right?" I said, nodding my head in the direction they were walking. She just nodded slowly, as if she had other things to worry about now.

"Can someone please fill me in?" Ino's voice spoke up, who'd spent most of lunch eavesdropping trying to make way with what everyone was saying, and reading her magazine.

"We're just as lost as you are." Shikamaru sighed, and Choji nodded a bit, still eating.

"It's just a misunderstanding, taken way out of proportion." I shrugged my shoulders. "Naruto should have never brought it up…" And with that, I lifted my hand up and swiftly smacked the top of his head.

"Owww!" He whined, rubbing his head. "I was just curious…"

Amai looked up lightly from her thoughts, smirking. "I deserve to smack you, too, Naruto! After all, you're the one who ruined my day!" She was about to punch him, but he got away and started running through the café. "I'll be right back." She said, as she ran after him.

"Neba, look what you started." Sakura shook her head, as if she knew all and was the most mature person here. "Violence isn't the answer."

Our table went back into usual discussion mode, putting what happened behind us. Naruto came back with a huge red mark on his face, and Amai came back looking rather pleased as well. I shot my eyes up, and found myself staring at a familiar long-haired boy. He caught me staring for a second, so I looked away quickly. I had a fine lunch without talking to him, so I'm sure I could have a fine day without talking to him, too.


	4. Smelskinator’s Class

**Rin'S A/N: **I get to start of this chapter! Since my part in the last chapter was an EPIC PHAIL. Yes, I purposely spelled 'fail' wrong. That's why it's called a 'phail'. Maybe we should explain the names soon?

**Luna's A/N:** Haiii there everybody! Just wanted to say, if while your reading, anything comes to mind, feel free to jot it down and send a review! We'd love to hear from you guys, and it totally motivates us to write more. ;P Mmmkay, and of course, we do not own Naruto, or else we wouldn't be writing fanfiction off of it, right?

--O.O—

_Amai's P.O.V _

Lunch ended, and I was feeling a little better. Despite Sakura's comment, violence is ALWAYS the answer. I grinned to myself, and thanked god that Kankuro was only in my math class. We all headed off to Geography, or as we called it, the Smelskinator's class.

The class practically wasn't a class. Our teacher, Smelsk, could barely control the class. Put simply, Geography class was chaos.

"I'm hungry," Izumi muttered.

"We all just ate," I said loudly. Neba was unusually quiet again. She hadn't talked to Neji the entire lunch time. What was happening today? Everything was just going wrong. I knew that Valentine's Day Dance poster was cursed.

"Neba, aren't you going to go find Neji and walk to Geography with him?" I inquired. Neba just smiled at me.

"I was thinking that I would give him some space, maybe he'll realize that he misses me or something," she answered lightly. I raised an eyebrow. I lifted my Geography textbook and hit Neba's head. She squealed in pain and started to rub her head.

"What was that for?" she snapped.

"I was trying to see if I could knock this new Neba out of your head," I said simply. We walked up to the Geography room door, and that's when it began. The door was ajar, and needed to be pulled open to be able to get inside.

"Amai, remember what Sakura said," Izumi scolded, reaching for the doorknob, "she said that violence is never an-" Izumi tripped on some non-existent object and fell right into the door. It was hard not to laugh at little Izumi. Izumi just sat on the ground, leaning her head against the door. She winced in pain.  
Once Neba and I were able to calm ourselves down, we helped Izumi to her feet. We held Izumi steady as we led her into the Geography classroom. To my dismay, there was not anyone to witness Izumi's embarrassing fall. Once again, the seats were arranged in pairs.  
Neba and I had our seats in the middle row, at the very back, with Izumi and Hinata sitting directly in front of us.

Suddenly, Smelsk waltzed in, carrying her 'water' bottle. She looked at us indignantly, and hurried over to her desk at the back of the room. She set down her 'water' bottle on the desk and turned to us.

"If you drink any of my water, I'll give you detention for a week," she commanded, turning to storm out of the classroom. Once she was out of earshot, we started giggling.

"I wonder what kind of 'water' she has in there," I chuckled.

"I bet it's not even water at all," Izumi claimed.

"That's what Amai was implying, Izumi," Neba said, rolling her eyes. Izumi blinked twice and then became angry.

"Whatever Neba, just because you can't stop hanging off of Neji! You love him so much," Izumi snapped.

"Who loves my cousin?" a soft voice said. Behind Izumi was Hinata, she had her books in her arms, and set them down on her desk next to Izumi's. Hinata was a type that attracted the maniacs. It's a wonder that she agreed to go out with Kiba. From my knowledge, Hinata liked Naruto. Then the lightbulb went off!

"Oi, Hinata," I called, gesturing for her to sit down and join our conversation. She sat down, and kept staring at her knees.

"Izumi, of course I love Neji, and just because you think all guys are weird or that they never talk to you," Neba drawled, mumbling that last bit of her sentence. I leaned over to Hinata.

"Hinata, I have a favour to ask you," I whispered as Neba and Izumi continued to argue as if Hinata and I weren't there. Hinata looked up at me, smiling softly.

"During work time in class, could you go over to your know-it-all cousin and ask him about his feelings for Neba? Make it clear that she's the one not asking," I explained. Hinata nodded. I grinned, and patted her head lightly.

"Kiba's a lucky guy to have you," I added, making her face turn red. I chuckled, leaning back in my chair. "Now only if I could find a guy." I closed my eyes and interlocked my fingers behind my head.

"Oh, I thought you and Kankuro were going out, especially with what happened in Math class today," Hinata mumbled. My eyes snapped open and I sat forward quickly. My hands slammed down on the desk, making Hinata jump back a little.

"Kankuro was being an idiot," I explained, my voice rising a bit, "and there is nothing between us." Hinata nodded slowly, and I could see her trembling slightly.

Then I got thinking.

There were other people in that class who saw as well. There was Gaara. Well, I don't think that he would care much, in fact, Gaara is probably incapable of caring. My face went red.

"Amai, your face is red," Neba pointed out, "perhaps you're thinking of someone special?" I gave her a sideways glare and she simply smiled. Izumi was just about to say something when I cut her off.

"Well, it's not Kankuro, that's for sure," I snapped, "nor is it Gaara."

"Sure sure," Izumi smirked. I rolled my eyes. Once either Izumi or Neba got an idea into their heads, it was hard to shake it out. Nay, it is near impossible.

Soon, Smelsk came back into the classroom, glaring at us and slowly all of the other students began to file into class. Neji walked into the room by himself, looking a tad bit tense, and I glanced at Neba, to see if she was going to be watching him. She wasn't. Neba was looking in her textbook and copying out a couple of things. I nudged her side lightly, and she looked up at me.

"Neji just came into the room," I whispered.

"Yeah, so?" she replied. I furrowed my brow, something was seriously wrong with Neba today, well, more like after second period.

"I just thought that you would like to know," I muttered. In my mind, I was looking every which way to figure out what was happening to her, and what was happening with me.

What was happening to our school life?

Then Gaara walked in. I gaped at him, and he simply glared back at me. I turned my eyes away, the actions of his brother seeping back into my brain. It was so bizarre, but the tiny person in the back of my brain wished that Gaara had been the one that did that. Alas, there would be no such luck, as Gaara hated me, and nothing could probably change that. I sighed as the bell rang and class began. From the corner of my eye, I saw Smelsk take a big swig of her 'water'. She walked up to the front of the class, already looking angry.

"Now you little devils," she yelled, "it's time to pay attention to me." Everyone in the class basically ignored her. They either kept on chattering or paying attention to her. Smelsk just glared at all of us.

"Well you all can just teach yourself the curriculum," she shouted, stomping back to her desk. Smelsk took another gulp of 'water' and sat at her desk, shuffling papers. Hinata looked back at me and I gave her a nod to go over to her cousin. Now, if I had asked her one or two years ago, she might've said no, and I would've had to do it myself. Hinata was terrified of Neji, keyword, was. It wasn't until this summer that Hinata's father cleared up the truth of Neji's father's death. Hinata stood up slowly, walking over at a snail's pace. She turned back to me quickly and I shot her a look. Hinata sighed and then hurried over to her cousin. Neji looked up at her and I saw Hinata's lips move.

--O.O—

_Neba's P.O.V_

I flipped through my notebook, full of blank paper and blank notes, curious of why I ever even brought anything to this class, anyways. No one did their work, and everyone just sat around chatting and making fun of Smelsk.  
"You know," I said, my voice suddenly louder than usual to be heard over all the other chatting going on, remembering that semester one was only weeks away from being over. "I'll miss this class when the semester's over."

"I won't." Izumi grumbled. "I want to learn something, not just sit around all period. It's so boring!"

I sighed. Izumi could be such a fun-ruiner some times. I could see Amai doodling in her notebook, casually looking up to check out her surroundings. Izumi had her chair facing my desk, as she flipped through pages of her geography textbook, already preparing for the exam. I looked up to see where Hinata had wandered off to, and saw her mumbling something to Neji, while not making eye contact directly at him, though. I immediately looked away; it was none of my business, anyways. I could also see Smelsk, taking a big swallow of her 'water', as she got up to get her over-head projector ready. That was basically all we were supposed to do in this class, just take notes off her over-head and teach it to ourselves. I couldn't say anyone really did that though.

"Alright," I heard Smelsk yell, as she started pushing the overhead up to the front of the class. "I want you to copy these notes! If you have any questions, you can ask me. I'll be at the back of the class, at my desk."

I heard a few giggles in the classroom, no one really paying complete attention to what she was saying. It wasn't really important anyways, more like déjà vu, so I focused my attention back to my notebook, ripping out a few sheets.

"NARUTO!" I heard Smelsk shriek, as my head swung upwards to see what had happened, but only seeing Naruto on the ground, rubbing his arm, and Smelsky glaring down upon him. "Watch where you're going! You could've broke my over-head! Then what we do in this class!"

"I was paying attention!" I heard Naruto complain. "You were just towing the thing too fast!"

"Ugh, move!" She commanded, in a rather pathetic manner as the class giggled behind her. Naruto quickly got out of the way so Smelsk, who today seemed to have no patience, wouldn't trample him. I smirked, wondering what had happened in Smelsk's two classes before us to piss her off so much. She quickly positioned the overhead, turned it on, and placed a really long note on it, which I knew no one would really copy except for Izumi. "I want you all to have this note copied by the end of class! I'm at zero patience today, and I'll have no problem giving anyone who questions my authority detention!" Then, she walked back to the corner of the room, and pulled out her water bottle, and had a couple more sips.

"Someone sounds like their having a bad day." Amai laughed.

"Well, I'm sure her day will brighten once she has some more 'water'." I smirked, and then focused my attention back to my notes. I was so behind, it was time to start doing some serious work in this class.

"Izumi!" I called, glancing at her, but she obliviously kept reading her textbook. I sighed, and then got my pen and swiftly jabbed it into her hand, which had comfortably placed itself on my desk.

A small yelp escaped her lips, which was then replaced by an annoyed, stern look. "Neba, you don't have to hurt me to get my attention!"

"Seems that way…" I mumbled. "Izumi, I just need to see your notes! I'm behind and need to catch up!"

She gave me a know-it-all look, probably for all the times I made fun of her for actually doing something in this class. "I need them for the exam, though."  
"I'll give them back at the end of class. Calm down." She reluctantly handed me her neatly organized binder, and I smiled in victory. "Thanks!"

I went through them, looking for anything that looked important enough to actually copy down into my own binder. Izumi's notes were color-coded, and the writing was printed neatly, and so small that I had to squint to see what she had written.

"Hinata!" I heard Amai greet Hinata, as she placed her own chair to face us, and sat down quietly beside Izumi, who was too absorbed to notice. "So, how was it?"

I looked up, curious at what was going on.

"Well," Hinata's face was a bit red, and she was looking down, as if she didn't know how to word it properly. "He said that Neba was annoying… how she always clung to him and all. But that's it."

My face turned a shade of red now, too. "What?" I meant to speak louder, but it came out too soft and it just made me sound even more embarrassed.

They turned their attention to me. Hinata's face turning redder, and Amai simply looked annoyed at the news.

"We were just trying to find out how Neji feels about you," She shrugged, as if it were no big thing.

"You could've at least mentioned this to me." I glared a bit, more at Amai than at Hinata.

"You didn't seem to care about Neji though, remember?" She added. "You wanted to give him space or something like that."

I sighed, she was right. I didn't need them meddling into this, though. I could handle myself. I glanced up at Neji, a bit embarrassed still. He was sitting in the second row, glancing up and copying the note Smelsk had put on. I sighed, and decided to do the same, ignoring Amai and Hinata's whispers beside me.

--O.O—

_Amai's P.O.V_

When Hinata told me Neji's answer, it was time to take things into my own hands. If he wouldn't answer with a third party, then I would have to go to him myself. He wouldn't receive any sympathy from me. In fact, he would get the exact opposite. I sighed and thanked Hinata for her time. She nodded, turning back and started to copy the note. I looked up at the note, and seeing how excruciatingly painful it would be to write, I skimmed it and took down key facts. I looked over at Neba, who was furiously copying Izumi's notes. It all looked like chicken scratch to me.

"Neba," I muttered, trying to get her attention. She was too concentrated on her note-taking. I sighed. Neba was too stubborn, if she had an idea put into her head, she would stick with it until her death. I leaned over to Neba, breathing in slowly.

"Boo," I shouted, making Neba, Izumi, and Hinata flinch. I started to giggle, their simultaneous reactions amusing me.

"Amai, what was that for?" Neba asked angrily.

"I needed to get your-" I started to say, only to be interrupted by the bell. "Never mind, I'll tell you later." I grumbled and started to gather my things.

How fun. We had gym next. I decided that I would corner Neji then.


	5. Ah, Youthful Gym

**Luna's A/N:** Hello everyone! Just wanted to say thanks for reading, and we don't own Naruto blah, blah, blah. Nothing else to really add, except that we love reviews! :)

**Rin's A/N: **I really hope that those people who have put us on their stalker list will review. It would make me happy to hear that our stalkers have an opinion on our story… -evil grin-

--O.O—

_Neba's P.O.V_

I shoved my geography stuff into the top shelf of my locker, and then grabbed my bag. It had all my necessities for gym class. I didn't actually enjoy gym, but here we were forced to take it once every four years, in some strange attempt to keep students in shape or something. At least I was getting a decent grade in this class.

"Neba!" I heard Izumi's usual, whiny voice behind me, just as I shut my locker. "We've got a fitness test today!"

"We do?" I sighed. These tests always made me feel incredibly lazy.

"We found out last week, remember?" I wondered how one like Izumi could remember so much about school, but could never remember anything that was practically common sense. Like last week, when she got an ice cream cake for our English class, but we couldn't eat it because it melted since she forgot to put it in the fridge…

"It must have slipped my mind." I shrugged, smiling a bit. I could care less what we did in gym anyways, as long as it wasn't basketball. I shuddered a bit. I absolutely hated basketball with a passion; I could never get the ball in the net, and just ended up standing around looking like an idiot.

We walked up to Amai's locker, as we so often did, and waited for her to get her own stuff before heading to the other side of the school where the gymnasium was.

"I wish we had a vending machine in the gym," I heard Izumi randomly say as we walked.

"Why?" Amai looked completely confused at this. "That'd kind of ruin the point for the class. It's about staying fit, remember Izumi?"

"It's not my fault I get really hungry in this class." She sighed, rubbing her stomach lightly to emphasis the point.

Amai just shook her head. "Izumi, your body will function fine without eating all the time."

Izumi just grunted, then pulled a chocolate bar out of her sweater pocket, and started nibbling on it.

We headed into the girls change room, and most of the girls in our class were already there. The layout was pretty simple; there was the big changing area, then an area in the back with bathroom and shower stalls, plus a gigantic mirror to admire yourself with.

I backed into my usual spot, in the corner beside the door, where I got a bit of privacy. I quickly changed into grey sweatpants and a pinkish red t-shirt. I pulled on my black and white running shoes, and then grabbed my hairbrush to go look in the mirror. I could see a familiar platinum blonde and pink haired girl standing there chatting as they brushed their hair and re-applied their makeup.

I squished myself beside them and started brushing my own hair. I was sure I could see them both give me rather dirty looks, but I ignored it, used to it by now. I winced as I found a knot in the back of my hair, and attempted to get it out.

"I hate gym," I heard Jin complain to Sakura. "It messes up my hair and makes me all sweaty. It's disgusting."

"I know." Sakura nodded her head, as she attempted to pull her hair up into a ponytail, but it seemed too short. "I hate going home and feeling all sticky and tired out."

I felt like saying something, but kept my mouth shut. But seriously… what did they expect? This was gym class. Besides, they barely participated, and usually just sat around complaining anyways.

"I got to go find Shino, see you Sakura!" I watched as Jin walked off, leaving Sakura and me alone at the mirror. I liked Sakura more than Jin, but they both did their part to get on my nerves. Thankfully, I wasn't alone for long.

"Neba! Do you have an extra ponytail? I forgot mine!" I heard Izumi come up to me in a panic.

"It's okay, Izumi," I noticed Sakura slip off a ponytail off her wrist and hand it to her. "I have an extra one."

"Thanks Sakura!" Izumi replied, happily enough. She then put it into her hair, and I noticed how messy it was.

"Izumi, do you want some help?" I heard Amai ask, as she walked up beside me. I assumed she noticed what a messy a job Izumi had done as well.

"I can do it!" Izumi said. I knew she hated being dependant, but she was so oblivious sometimes.

"Whatever Izumi, it looks kind of bad though." Amai was glancing at herself in the mirror as well, but not for very long.

"Come on, Izumi! Let's go get our seats." Sakura said, and Izumi followed her lead as they walked out. I sighed. Izumi was being brainwashed by her again.

I had placed my hair into a rather neat ponytail, or neat compared to Izumi's. I stared proudly at it for a bit until Amai spoke up. "Let's go, too."

"Right," I nodded, and we headed out just as the bell rang. I debated whether to take my usual seat on the ground next to Neji, or to stay beside Amai. If I sat with Neji, though, it'd be nice, but it'd mess up what I was trying to prove. So I stayed put, and followed Amai as she took a seat next to Naruto.

"Neba, why aren't you sitting next to Neji?" Naruto spoke up, a little confused as though I wasn't acting like my self or something. He laughed a bit. "Decided you don't like him, anymore?"

"No, that's not it. I just feel like sitting here today." I said lightly, it was sort of the truth. "Mind your own business, Naruto!"

Amai glanced at me. "Go sit with Neji instead, and stop acting so confusing."

I glared at her, and was about to open my mouth when our teacher Gai came in. We actually had two gym teachers, Gai and Kakashi. Kakashi was all right, but Gai was a little on the creepy side.

"Hello Class!" Gai grinned at us, giving us two thumbs up. "Today, we'll be taking a wonderful test of your youth! Ah, wonderful youth," He looked up for a moment, as if remembering upon his younger days. "Lee, hand out these sheets please!"

"Yes, sir!" He grinned, taking the sheets and started to rush to hand them out. Rock Lee, or Bushy Brows as most of us called him, was basically a miniature Gai. Ever since grade nine, Lee has been acting just like him, getting the same bowl-shaped haircut, and wearing the same strange spandex suits. The only person who seemed to take him seriously was Sakura, which was strange. She used to make fun of him just like the rest of us, but I heard he stood up for her one day when she needed help, earning her respect.

I studied the sheet that he passed me. It had a bunch of different tests that matched the ones that were all around the gym for us to do.

"You, Izumi and I should be a group." I said, nudging Amai. Of course, I spoke too soon.

"Kakashi's running late, today..." I heard Gai say. "He's just upset because I beat him at setting up this place! I made a bet that…" I didn't feel like hearing him babble about their challenges, so I blocked it out.

"You'll be in groups of three for this challenge." I heard him finally continue with something relevant. "I decided to make things interesting and make groups today!"

There was a large array of groans throughout the gym. Pre-made groups were usually horrible.

"Alright," He called. "When I say your name, get together with your group. Let's see…" He started listing the groups, and most people weren't very satisfied with who were they were with. The good thing with Kakashi was he was usually too lazy or too busy reading his book to put us in groups.

"Izumi, Neba, Gaara." I heard him call of his list.

"Hey!" I smirked, turning my attention to Amai. "I'm with your boy!"

She frowned at this. "I don't even care about him. Quite frankly, I find him very irritating."

"You're just saying that." I smiled. I knew I must've been right. Amai had to like someone, and it surely couldn't be Kankuro.

"Amai, Jin, Neji." Gai called out another group.

"Gee, what luck," Amai rolled her eyes. "I'm with your boy."

"If you won't admit to liking Gaara, you can't say I like Neji." I said, in a matter of fact tone.

"Well," She squinted, glaring at this. "You see, I never did glomp him or confess my undying love to him like you did to Neji."

I sighed. "I don't do that anymore."

"I kind of miss you doing that. It was entertaining." She grinned.

"It was stupid." I pointed out, flatly.

"Alright, go into your groups and see how much youth you really do maintain!" Gai grinned, his teeth flashing against the light, as he did his signature thumbs up pose.

This was going to be an awkward class. Gaara wasn't really the talking type, was he? I grabbed Izumi, and headed off to find Gaara standing by himself, not even noticing us as we walked up to him.

"Gaara, which test would you want to do first?" I asked, trying to make a nice conversation. Izumi looked rather frightened of him, so I knew I couldn't count on her to get him to talk.

"Hmph." He responded, if you could even call it that. I sighed. This was going to be a long period.

_Amai. P.O.V _

It was prefect, prefect I say! I was in a group with Neji, and Jin, but that was beside the point! Neji wasn't going to get away now… I noticed that Jin and Neji were already talking, so I walked over to them.

"Hey," I smiled, earning a glare from Jin and an exasperated look from Neji. I continued to smile, hoping that soon I would be able to corner Neji into confessing his innermost feelings.

"What test should we do first?" Jin asked, twirling the hair that hung in her skewed ponytail. I sort of looked at her and shrugged and Neji rolled his eyes. I stood there, waiting for someone to say something, the awkwardness consuming us all. I looked over my shoulder, and saw Neba, Izumi and Gaara, all doing push-ups. Izumi and Neba were struggling, while Gaara was doing them simply. I saw Gai walking over to our group, smiling like a doofus. Jin and Neji were debating whether to do push-ups or sit-ups first.

"Quick, act like we're doing something, Gai is coming over," I whispered to them. I flopped down onto my stomach, and started doing push-ups. I looked up and Neji had started doing push-ups as well. Jin just stood there refusing to get sweaty.

"How are we today, my youthful students?" Gai asked, waltzing into our group.

"Terrible," Jin pouted, "I hate gym."

"But gym is the most youthful subject in school," Gai explained. "Sweating once a day gets rid of dead skin cells and it helps your complexion."

"Complexion my ass," I muttered, counting each of my push-ups, I was at ten. Gai flounced away, spreading the word of youth everywhere he went.

"Has it been a minute yet?" Neji asked, still doing push ups.

"I guess so," Jin shrugged. I stopped and then sat on my knees. I had done twenty-five push-ups, which was a new record for me. I blinked twice, and Jin was gone. There were two possible places that Jin would've gone, either to see Shino or to skip gym. The latter was very probably, but Jin was possibly obsessed with Shino. Neji was looking around the room. He ended up sighing, and started on his sit-ups. I shuffled closer to him.

"Neji, since you wouldn't answer when I asked you indirectly, I'll guess I'll have to ask you directly," I muttered, lying down on my back.

"You're the one who sent my cousin over to ask me?" said Neji, stopping his sit-ups to look at me.

"Yes, why, did you think it was Neba?" I grinned. Neji gave me a look, a disapproving one. He didn't say anything, only glaring.

"I'll take that as a yes," I sighed, doing a sit-up. "I need to know, for the sake of Neba's sanity, whether or not you have feelings for her." Neji continued his icy stare.

"She hasn't hugged you for three or four hours, and she isn't planning to do so anytime soon," I explained. "Someone planted an idea in her head that if she leaves you alone that you might miss her constant love. I aim to prove that wrong and that you secretly liked having Neba hug you all the time." I took a deep breath. That was a long-winded speech, even for me.

"I already gave you an answer then," Neji said, scratching the back of his head. His brown hair was pulled into a low ponytail.

"You didn't give me an answer Neji, you answered in a format that avoided the true question," I growled.

"That's the way I feel about her," Neji muttered.

"That doesn't tell me if you have feelings for her," I sighed loudly. I got to my feet and gestured for Neji to do the same. He took his time, and I took the opportunity to glance over at Neba's group. They were weighing and checking their heights.

"Let's go over to the fifty-metre dash, Neji," I ordered, walking over in its direction. I noticed Kakashi, who was timing each person as they ran down the two rows of pylons. Naruto started his run and he flailed between the start and the finish. Sasuke went after him and ran like the wind. I turned to Neji, who seemed to be extremely bored. I hit his arm playfully and smiled.

"If you get a faster time than me, you won't have to tell me your feelings for Neba," I grinned, holding my hand out to Neji. He looked from me to my hand and then back at me. He took my hand and shook it.

"You're on," Neji said. I smirked. I had confidence that I could beat him. I went down to the starting line, where Naruto was lining up for another try.

"Naruto, Neji and I are having a competition, so let us go first," I commanded.

"But I have to beat Sasuke's time," Naruto whined. I glared at him.

"Naruto," I hissed. His eyes widened as he raised one arm up near his face. He then sighed and trudged off to the chin up bar. I took my spot at the starting line and waited for Kakashi to signal for me to start. He signalled and I sprinted as fast as I could for fifty metres. I ran past the finish, and went over to Kakashi to hear my time.

"Ten point three-five," Kakashi muttered. I smirked. I wonder if Neji could beat that time. Surely that long hair of his would increase drag…

"Ten point three-five Neji! Do you think that you can beat that?" I yelled. Neji kept a stoic face and readied himself. Kakashi signalled for him to start and Neji was down here pretty swiftly.

"Ten point three-five," Kakashi mumbled. I gasped. Neji had the exact same time as me. I would force him to tell me anyways whether or not he liked it, but a competition is a competition.

"We have to do it again," we groaned. We walked back to the start, not talking. I told Neji that he could go first this time. He nodded and then did his run.

"Ten point two," Neji called. Okay, Amai, you have to beat his time. No sweat, you didn't do a two kilometre run every other day for nothing… Kakashi signalled and I ran. I pushed myself so that I could beat Neji for Neba. I ran into the mats that they had set up at the end of the fifty metre dash.

"Ten point one-eight," Kakashi sighed, opening his little orange book. I started to laugh. Neji would confess everything, or, I would force him to. Neji looked mortified. I poked his arm.

"You have to tell me you feelings for her now," I teased in a sing-song voice. He grumbled and then walked away.

"We had an agreement, you bastard," I said noisily. I saw Neba glare at me and I grinned, showing a peace sign. I caught up to Neji, who was now doing some chin-ups. He was concentrating on doing the chin-ups and not on the fact that I would be pestering him now.

"Tell me your feelings for Neba now," I blurted, making Neji let go of the bar, falling to the ground. I waited for him to get to his feet.

"She annoys me. That's all," Neji said, frowning and looking away. I furrowed my brow. Something was bothering me.

"Fine. I have this feeling though, if that were true, you would've have put up with her shenanigans for the past two year. Figure out something about her," I scolded, crossing my arms, "or you'll be hearing from me in the near future." I turned away, and tried to concentrate on something other than the problems between Neba and Neji. I saw Neba's group heading other in our direction. I looked back at Neji, who had restarted his chin-ups.

"Amai," Izumi squeaked, waving a short arm in the air.

"Hey," I smiled. I glimpsed at Gaara and then made my eyes dart over to Neba, who seemed a little worn out. I grinned at her and then showed her a thumb up. She shot me a scrupulous look and I shuddered. Gaara walked by and waited for Neji to finish his chin-ups. His red hair was still messy and seemed to stick to his head from the sweat.

Hold on a second.

What the hell was I thinking about? I need to get out more… I crouched down and held my head. When I came back to my senses, Neba was crouched down beside me. She was staring straight at me.

"Did you really ask him?" she whispered expectantly. I nodded.

"He didn't really give me a straight answer," I sighed, "so I scolded him into figuring out his feelings soon." Neba frowned. She rested her hand on my shoulder.

"Why did you do that?" she groaned.

"Because if I can't do anything for my love life, I might as well do something for yours," I shrugged, "and besides, Neji needed a good scolding." Neba stood up and smiled.

"It's okay," she grinned, "I never really liked him that much anyways."

"Liar," I said, throwing out my hand for her to help me up. Neba took it and pulled me to my feet. She smirked and leaned closer to mutter something.

"I tried asking Gaara about you," she murmured. "It was an epic fail though. All he did was grunt." I chuckled and turned back to the bar. Izumi was attempting to do a chin up, and wasn't doing so well. She just hung from the bar, and when she did try to pull herself up, Izumi couldn't even get her eyes parallel to the bar.

"Let's go Izumi," I cheered. "You can do it!"

"Shut up Amai," she yelled, and her hands slipped from the bar. Little Izumi plummeted to the ground, and hit her bottom hard. Neba and I burst into laughter while Neji and Gaara looked on, their faces stoic. Then Gai blew the whistle.

"It's time for the beep test everyone! Time to test your true youthfulness," he shouted, with Kakashi beside him, looking extremely bored.


End file.
